Classification of conditions for short-wall continuous mechanical mining in shallowly buried coal seam with thin bedrock

The room and pillar method is usually used to extract coal from shallowly buried seams with thin bedrock. This results in a very low production efficiency and in a low degree of extraction. In recent years short-wall continuous mechanical mining has been extensively used in many situations except shallowly buried coal seams with thin bedrock. The principles governing movement of the overlying strata above the 2-2 coal seam were deduced from in-situ experience, laboratory data, calculations and computer simulations. The thicknesses of the bedrock in the Shendong Coal Field where the coal is shallowly buried are classified into 5 types: <10 m, 10-15 m, 15-25 m, 25-35 m and >35 m, which was done using fuzzy clustering results. A series of reasonable, relative parameters in each category have been calculated and analyzed. One proposed way to perform short-wall continuous mechanical mining in shallowly buried coal seams is given. This is significant for coal mines with similar geological conditions.